Pre-Budget-2026 Quotes

"Last year’s Union Budget was largely centred around fiscal consolidation, capex-led growth, and infrastructure development, with a strong emphasis on maintaining macroeconomic stability. It also included announcements around workforce skilling, employment generation, and formalisation, which were important long-term enablers. However, the impact on consumption-driven sectors like FMCG has been gradual, especially in General Trade and rural markets.
This year, the expectation is a sharper pivot towards reviving consumption and boosting disposable incomes, particularly in rural and semi-urban India, which contributes nearly 60% of FMCG demand. Targeted measures to support employment generation ansd skill development are critical, given that the FMCG ecosystem supports over 3 million frontline jobs. Additionally, accelerating digital and logistics enablement for kirana stores, which still account for close to 90% of FMCG sales, can significantly improve efficiency and scalability across the supply chain. Rationalising GST structures and continuing ease-of-doing-business reforms will further help emerging and challenger brands grow sustainably.
A consumption-led Budget, backed by policy continuity, can create a strong multiplier effect for the entire FMCG ecosystem."
 Anjana Ghosh, MD, Scale Sherpas

“The upcoming Union Budget presents a strong opportunity to accelerate India’s healthcare transformation. We hope to see increased incentives for digital health adoption, AI-driven diagnostics, and advanced medical manufacturing, which can significantly improve accessibility and affordability of quality care. In the dental sector specifically, greater support for AI and digital technologies such as CAD/CAM, 3D printing, and smart diagnostic tools can revolutionize patient outcomes by enabling faster, more precise, and predictable treatments. Encouraging innovation in digital dentistry will strengthen preventive care, enhance clinical efficiency, and make advanced dental solutions more widely available. Supportive policies around these emerging technologies and easier regulatory pathways will help position India as a global leader in tech-enabled healthcare and dental excellence.”
Sameer Merchant, Managing Director and CEO of Laxmi Dental Limited

“As India prepares for the Union Budget, we expect a sharper policy focus on strengthening digital and AI-led infrastructure that underpins knowledge services, publishing, and the fast-growing retail and e-commerce ecosystem. Continued investments in advanced technologies such as AI, automation, and cloud platforms will be critical to improving productivity across content creation, digital publishing workflows, and large-scale retail operations.
For the publishing sector, targeted support for technology-enabled content production, research digitisation, and global content services exports can help Indian companies deepen their role in the international knowledge economy. Similarly, policy measures that encourage data-driven retail operations, catalogue automation, and digital supply chains will be vital as e-commerce scales in complexity and volume.
Aligned with our expectations, a strong emphasis on AI-focused skill development, R&D incentives, and ease of doing business for technology-driven service providers that can enable companies to continue building globally competitive solutions from India, while creating high-value employment and accelerating innovation across publishing and commerce.”
Sameer Kanodia, Managing Director and CEO of Lumina Datamatics Limited